Rotating cutter blade cylinders in the folding apparatus of rotary printing machines are well known. They are all disposed at a particular angle to the folding rollers. As a result, the presser rails on the cutter cylinder always contact the folding apparatus folder cylinder at a particular location around that cylinder. The cut sheets of printed products should be released by the presser rail on the cutter blade cylinder precisely as the printed product is first gripped by the folding means, i.e. folding rollers.
Because the printed products to be cut and folded have progressively increasing numbers of pages, the disadvantage of previous cutting devices becomes more noticeable. The cut sheets for items having different numbers of pages are released either too early or too late by the presser rail that flanks the cutter blade. Too early release causes the printed products to be released from being gripped shortly prior to their entry into the folding rollers. Too late release causes the printed products to be pulled away by the folding rollers from under the presser rail.